Our Fife specific Climate Knowhow course will tell you all you need to know to confidently discuss the climate emergency and describe the actions we can all take to tackle it. We will look at the science, causes and impacts; and consider how climate change is impacting us in Fife. We will discuss individual and community climate action, as well as consider how to challenge the climate silence.

At the end of our course, you will have an awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions on an individual, community and organisational basis.

Our course meets the Carbon Literacy Project Standard, meaning that participants can gain Carbon Literate accreditation and will received a certificate on completion of a short assessment.

Our course is delivered online across four 2 hour modules:

● Thursday 17th February – Module 1 – Climate Science & Justice

● Thursday 24th February – Module 2 – Causes & Impacts

● Thursday 3rd March – Module 3 – Adaptation & Action

● Thursday 10th March – Module 4 – Communicating Climate Change

All 6:30pm -8:30pm & delivered online via Zoom. It is recommended that you attend all four modules.

Booking Information

The event is free but booking is required as spaces are limited.

The event will take place online via Zoom. A joining link will be sent out the day before the first module.

If you have any problems booking, or any questions, please phone 01592 858458 or email info@greenerkirkcaldy.org.uk.uk

Our Fife specific Climate Knowhow course will tell you all you need to know to confidently discuss the climate emergency and describe the actions we can all take to tackle it. We will look at the science, causes and impacts; and consider how climate change is impacting us in Fife. We will discuss individual and community climate action, as well as consider how to challenge the climate silence.

At the end of our course, you will have an awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions on an individual, community and organisational basis.

Our course meets the Carbon Literacy Project Standard, meaning that participants can gain Carbon Literate accreditation and will received a certificate on completion of a short assessment.

Our course is delivered online across four 2 hour modules:

● Thursday 11th November – Module 1 – Climate Science & Justice

● Thursday 18th November – Module 2 – Causes & Impacts

● Thursday 25th November – Module 3 – Adaptation & Action

● Thursday 2nd December – Module 4 – Communicating Climate Change

All 6:30pm -8:30pm & delivered online via Zoom.

Booking Information

The event is free but booking is required as spaces are limited. It is recommended that you attend all four modules.

If you have any problems booking, or any questions, please phone 01592 858458 or email info@greenerkirkcaldy.org.uk.uk

 

Hello, my name is Louise Oliver. I’m the new Business Outreach Coordinator, working at Greener Kirkcaldy as part of the Climate Action Fife project.

I’ll be engaging with businesses across Fife to help them reduce their energy use and food waste. This will help them reduce their carbon footprint. Another part of my role will be to create a business accreditation or award scheme for all the businesses involved. This will allow them to gain recognition and increase awareness for climate savvy consumers.

About me

I have worked for many years as a pastry chef and more recently as a baker at a small high street café/bar. This has given me a good understanding of the hospitality business, especially regarding food waste – from using reusable takeaway Tupperware to using veg peel for stock, as well as being part of a ‘Too Good To Waste’ food app. I have also almost completed a masters in Gastronomy, which uses food as a lens to view the world. The subject has a large emphasis on sustainability and altering our current food system.

I have completed my CPD certified Green Champions Training with Business Energy Scotland. I have learned how to successfully improve the resource efficiency and environmental performance of organisations. I’ve also learned how to save businesses money over the long term.

Business support

My training allows me to help businesses in several areas:

  • Identifying cost savings and environmental improvement opportunities
  • Effectively collecting and analysing data
  • Using data to successfully bring about lasting change

Working alongside expert energy advisors at Cosy Kingdom, we can also provide invaluable advice to households. This advice is also pertinent for micro businesses and those working from home.

In collaboration with Zero Waste Scotland, we will use a food waste tracker to gather data on where exactly food is wasted. Businesses can then carry out appropriate responses to reduce waste. For example, if food is being wasted mostly on the plate by customers, offering them ‘good to go’ boxes will help to create a zero waste culture.

A Fifer at heart

I now live by the sea in Edinburgh, but was born and raised in Fife. As a young mum, I lived there for 10 years and regularly visit Fife to see my parents. I am always happy to spend a day at Pillars of Hercules, Bowhouse market or in some of the great high streets in Fife towns. I am passionate about the environment and helping people and businesses to be as kind to the planet as possible.

Please email me at louise@greenerkirkcaldy.org.uk if you are a local business person who would like to get involved.

Featured image: © Copyright Dave Fergusson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Coming soon! As part of our new #ClimateActionFife project, CLEAR is excited to be planning some online cooking demonstrations on creating delicious meals from leftovers and using local, seasonal food.

Scottish households throw away 600,000 tonnes of food waste every year with a value of up to £437 per year per household, not in our pockets! As well as being a waste of good food and money, it’s also a huge waste of all the resources that have gone into producing the food i.e. the fuel for the farm machinery, the farmer’s time and energy planting and harvesting, the water it took to grow the crops, the fuel used transporting the food to the food manufacturer, the materials used to package the food and much more, which all lead to the production of unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. By reducing food waste, you can save money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and help preserve resources for future generations.

So what can you do to help?

  1. Don’t overbuy. Make meal plans and shopping lists (and stick to them!) to avoid buying too much food.
  2. Check the use-by date on the food you buy. Those with the longest use-by dates are usually at the back of the shelves in shops. Be aware that “sell by” is used by manufacturers to ensure foods have a long shelf life after purchase. “Use by” is the last date recommended for use.
  3. Love your freezer. Freeze anything you won’t use immediately that may go off if left in the fridge or batch cook and freeze it for later use.
  4. Use your leftovers. Either re-heat or adapt to make another meal.
  5. Buy local (seasonal) food. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport, storage and packaging and is usually fresher and tastes better!
  6. Compost your waste food. Put it in your brown bin (not your blue landfill bin!) or make your own compost.

If you can’t wait for our workshops, have a look at these links and be inspired to make a change!

Deliciously Ella

BBC Good Food

Love Food Hate Waste

Friends of the Earth

Greener Scotland

Climate Action Fife is a Fife-wide partnership project, bringing together individuals, communities, local government and businesses to tackle the climate emergency. It is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund’s Climate Action Fund. #ClimateActionFife

Part One

As part of our new #ClimateActionFife project, EATS is excited to be planning some online cooking demonstrations. You may already be aware that a large part of our project has been focused on the redistribution of surplus food with the aim of reducing food waste. But do you know what really links the two? Is it obvious how what we buy for dinner, what we do with our ingredients and how we cook it is affecting the climate?

They may seem like disconnected issues, but there are a number of factors that make your everyday choices very powerful indeed.

LIMITED RESOURCES

Firstly, the issue EATS have been focused on – reducing the amount of waste from supermarkets, local businesses and within households. We like to say we are feeding bellies, not bins, but how does that help? There are two huge problems related to this, the first is simply the huge waste of resources extracted from the planet, potentially going through many stages, journeys and transformations before we eat it. So for what is scraped from our plates is effectively wasting all the energy that powered the farm machinery, the farmer’s time and energy planting and harvesting, the water it took to grow the crops, the fuel we burnt transporting the food to the food manufacturer, the materials used to package the food, and much more besides. In the UK, agriculture is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, 83% of ammonia air pollution, and 16% of water pollution. (What to eat Food and the environment | Friends of the Earth)

With limited resources this puts more and more pressure on the planet and all of its’ interconnected ecosystems. 

Have you heard of Earth Overshoot Day? This is the date in the calendar year when humanity has used as much ecological resources as the planet’s natural ecosystems can regenerate in the whole year – in 2020 Earth Overshoot Day was reached on August 22

WHERE DOES IT ALL GO?

Secondly when food is thrown in the bin, it can sometimes (though not always) end up on a landfill site. You may think food is biodegradable but in huge landfill sites food waste piles up high in a compacted area in anaerobic conditions, that is, without oxygen. In this scenario it creates methane gas and this can be more than 20 times more effective at heat-trapping than a molecule of carbon dioxide, as in leading to global warming. Alternatives at home can include composting and alternatives on a large scale can be to generate energy from this food waste, but ideally of course we would generate less waste in the first place!

Have you discovered this great new channel? Full of documentaries and short films with opportunities to take action – here’s a great film we found looking at one couple’s challenge to eat nothing but ‘wasted food’ Waterbear | Just Eat It 

THE FINANCIAL LOSS

Thirdly – the pennies on your plate. According to Food waste facts and figures | Greener Scotland avoidable food and drink waste costs Scottish households nearly £1.1billion in unnecessary purchases each year.

Scottish households throw away 600,000 tonnes of food waste every year with a value of up to £437 per year per household, not in our pockets! 

We may think the majority of waste is coming from supermarkets and business and that we are helpless to make change. However 61% of food waste in Scotland occurs in the home so we can really make a difference by thinking about every single thing we put on our plates. Food waste: The environmental impact | How To Waste Less (zerowastescotland.org.uk)

There are signs of progress as people become more aware of the impact of wasting food. Between us, across the UK we’re saving just under £5 billion a year compared with 2007, not to mention saving 5.0 million tonnes of CO2 – that’s like taking 2.1 million cars off the road. (LFHW) 

If you would like to learn more and help make even more of a reduction in the carbon emissions of food waste we recommend some further reading and listening. Dive into these links and be inspired to make a change! 

Climate Action Fife is a Fife-wide partnership project, bringing together individuals, communities, local government and businesses to tackle the climate emergency. It is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund’s Climate Action Fund. #ClimateActionFife

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